Wed, Jan 18, 2012
Analyst Boyd Warns Of Repeat Of MidAmerica St. Louis
After two decades of wringing their hands over air traffic
congestion and a bitter battle to expand O'Hare International,
Chicago-area planners are hoping to see a third airport to be
located near Peotone finally getting off the drawing board in 2012.
But an analyst is warning that the new South Suburban Airport could
be a money pit, and cites the example of another recent midwest
airport project.
Aviation Consultant Michael Boyd tells The Bloomington
Pantagraph, "You’ve already got one major fiasco called
MidAmerica. Don’t do it again. MidAmerica is a monument to
dishonest planning."
He's referring to MidAmerica St. Louis Airport near Belleville
in southwestern Illinois, which shares its runways with Scott Air
Force Base, and which cost taxpayers $313 million to build. It was
proposed as a remedy for crowded airspace around Lambert-St. Louis
International Airport, but since coming online in 1997 has never
attracted a single major airline flight. Even Allegiant Air, which
shuttled vacationers to Orlando and Las Vegas, discontinued service
at MidAmerica three years ago, leaving no commercial service
whatsoever. An audit shows the airport lost another $12 million for
the year 2010.
South Suburban Airport is a darling of government planners, but
Peotone is an hour's drive south of Chicago, and passenger traffic
from Illinois airports has dropped 10 percent in the last five
years. American Airlines, which uses Chicago O'Hare as a hub, is in
bankruptcy, and its expected acquisition by a competitor is also
expected to be followed by a reduction in capacity as the new owner
looks for synergies.
The state of Illinois has already spent $33 million to acquire
land for the new airport, expects to spend another $110 million to
buy the remainder of the 5,000 acres needed, and that doesn't
include any funds for airport construction.
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